Will Iraqi Civil War Follow "Democracy?"

Al-Hakim to US: TROOPS OUT!

The presumptive Prime Minister in a new Iraqi government (a man with close ties to Iran, and the leader of the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq), Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, has accepted in principle an independent Kurdish region in a federal Iraq. At the same time, he is talking about "flushing out" Baathists in positions of power in the Iraqi security services, army and police. It is, we note, Sunnis and former Baathists who make up a large part of the insurgency. And to speak to them, negotiate with them, or even allow them--should they obey the Iraqi constitution--to be part of civil society is "unacceptable."

This is not an auspicious beginning of a new Iraq.

Also, Hakim says there will be no permanent US military bases in a free Iraq.

Uh-huh.